Friday, July 25, 2014

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 Bronze



Slim, Light, Stunning !
Beautiful screen resolution, adjustable and easy on the eyes.

Silky smooth touch response, the skinned UI is fairly un-obtrusive.
Android is one of my favourite mobile OS's, and this variant is not disappointing.

Picked-up the 16 GB 8.4 version, with microSD up to 128 GB.

Media consumption is wondrously easy and almost complete:


Video Playing FormatMP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
Video Playing ResolutionWQHD (2560 x 1440) @30fps
Audio Playing FormatMP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA,
AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA



Choose the Bronze edition, love the colour combination, elegant. The plastic encasement is fine and not completely obnoxious. The form factor is comfortable and nice for reading.

Using this for a mobile device, transfer photos from my d7100 to my One Drive ... I could use my Surface 2 .... hmmmmm 

I really like this device and am trying hard to find an excuse to not return. The screen res may be the main excuse, the expandable drive space is another reason.

Why return it ?  The price point ! 419.00 CDN its expensive and honestly not really worth this price.
I suspect that the resale value will not hold as well as the Apple mini with retina.

So willing to take a future loss in value I will probably keep this device and enjoy its awesome performance and eye candy display.

CONS:

It did however, take some time to get used to the the navigation buttons and the very narrow bezel.
The keyboard is OK, and can be annoying until switching to the Google keyboard with swiping to type, which is very good.
The book cover adds some appreciable weight, but it looks tops when attached. 
I find the battery not last as long as my iPad Air. 



Verdict, Samsung has done it right with their premium flagship tablet its a lovely device with a stunning screen, the microSD card is a great edition and is a strong selling point in my opinion.
Overall it loses point for the plastic construction soooo its an A-.

UPDATE - returned it in exchange for the Nexus 7FHD - far better bang for da buck! Hahaha !

2nd Update - exchanged the Nexus for the iPad mini Retina. I am finally perfectly happy, Google apps that I love, the iOS environ that I appreciate with excellent craftsmanship and design, satisfies the perfectionist in me. I am not an apple Fanzite but I do respect and admire their iPad and iPod devices. Then changed the world. 



Saturday, May 3, 2014

Surface 2 - adventures with Windows 8.1 RT -

Windows Surface 2

I can give you all the specs but you can get those here what I am about to write is simply my week long experience with the new Surface 2.

I am using the type cover 2 with backlit keys, excellent idea and fairly comfortable to use and good accuracy. Three lighting settings - nice, protects the tablet as well. I was debating if I should drop the 129. + 13% HST on it and in the end I did it, mainly to protect the screen then of course typing on a keyboard is far better then the screen keyboard.



Speaking of the screen keyboard, it is very good and has many ways to display itself. I used it alone for 1 week and was not turned off in anyway.



 
 
The onboard speakers are typical for the Surface line up, the audio system shines with headphones and external speakers ... Bluetooth connection to my JBL Flip is awesome with no issues at all. I also add that the same connection using my iPad Air is also flawless and the 'Flip' is a great stereo speaker for the 99.99 + 13% HST.

I use a Bluetooth mouse that is ancient in the tech world and it works great, the track pad on the keyboard is horrible and useless by my expectations and standards.

Xbox music rocks, videos play extremely well and now in 1080p HD which is lovely. I really enjoy the close up experience visually paired with stunning audio its so much fun.

I have the 32 GB and after all the required updates I am left with ~ 16 GB I create a recovery USB drive and promptly remove the Restore partition to free up ~ 4 GB.

*** be forewarned that if you lose your USB Recovery Drive you are out of luck in regards of Refreshing / Restoring your Surface if you delete this partition. It is difficult and convoluted though not impossible to restore this partition, the average user will be hard pressed to do so. I know that it is possible because I have done this successfully. ***

I have a 64 GB class 10 microsd card and have moved all my media to direct there instead of the OS drive. This leaves me with more room to install apps at my leisure. You can also free up drive space by performing disk clean up and removing any apps you are not going to use. This Surface 2 configuration is not for hoarders.

Apps run in the background nicely - I am using Xbox music collections listening to Mozart whilst performing this task with no lag - nice for more capabilities I highly recommend viewing this excellent video ..



OK onward ... PRINTING and FILE SHARING -

I use Google cloud printing and as far a file sharing I was interested in file sharing to my iPad Air.
I have a classic printer that is UPD PCL6 that is not supported by Windows 8.1 RT so using Google cloud was a no brainer - the app to attach costs 1.99 and well worth it - would be better if it was free of course.
I use a file sharing app on my iPad Air that essentially turns on a lite FTP server and I attach my Windows 8.1 RT using ftp:// call and it works darned well. It is a bit of drain on the CPU resources but it does work.
Homegroup sharing works well and you can also attach to Mac OS effortlessly as well.

One more interesting app is a Torrent client that works pretty well, it is slower then a conventional desktop or laptop but hey ! there is at least that ;)

So in the end I have decided to keep the device and its very expensive keyboard, and enjoy it very much. It's speedy, clever and sexy.  I recommend picking one up and spending a good amount of time on it before you decide to return it. You may find that despite certain limitations - meaning how you currently work, you may find that there are alternatives and answers to your glass walls... you will hit one guaranteed, but like me you will find an answer.

Who says ' think different' ? not sure, who, is supposed to be thinking different ( definitely NOT the end user ) with Microsoft, you WILL think different.

Overall I give it an A.

I edited this blog using the Surface 2 entirely. hmmmmm ..... ;)




Monday, March 10, 2014

Jay Bird Freedom Sprint Bluetooth ear duds ... i mean ear buds

It's been a while I have been a little busy, but back on track now regarding ear buds. Winter is finally beginning to leave us and its time to get moving outside, and audio motivation really works wonders especially if you are looking to shed that extra bit of you ;)

So off I go and grab a pair of these little sport quality blue tooth buds, that are comfortable and stay securely in your ear using either the inner ear supports or the outer ear hooks ( which I prefer ).

Both work well. The physical design it not bad, a little bulky but they managed to style it with the choice of two tones, white and black with chrome accents.

I was however not impressed with the tonal quality of this product. Not tinny > more like cardboard.
Tonal range was disappointing with no bass and really flat highs.

The hands free experience was good though, easy to pair ... volume and voice control was good as well all on the right hand side = not sure if there is a left handed version available couldn't find one.

Regarding the blue tooth reception, even at waist level ( I am 5' 10" ) I did get cut out, I had to transfer my ipod nano 7th edition to a pocket higher in my coat.

The spoken work sounds quite good with this device but a big disappointment with music.

So I give this a passing grade be it low, it does what its sold to do. It's hands free, it is distortion free, the battery life lasts fairly long ( charging takes forever ) it is comfortable, I easily wore if for over an hour, but unfortunately sound quality is important to me and this product loses grade point here.

C+ for me but may be a good match for someone else with different needs.







Specifications

Specs:Details:Description:
Warranty Terms - Parts1 year
Warranty Terms - Labor1 year
Height1-3/8"
Width5/8"
Depth3/8"
  
Headphone StyleEarbud
Bluetooth Built-inYes
Sound IsolatingYes
WirelessYes
Driver Size SE8mm
Magnet TypeNeodymium
Frequency Response20Hz - 20kHzRange of sound (low to high) that an audio or video component is capable of reproducing.
Sensitivity/SPL114dB
Total Harmonic Distortion<5%Amount of distortion that occurs when an audio signal is amplified. The lower the percentage, the cleaner the signal and the better the sound quality.
Impedance32 ohms
Ear CushionsSilicone
UPC855366002263